Sunday, January 18, 2015

Our 1965 Corvette Coupe has been a part of our family for over twenty years. It's a factory original 300hp 327 coupe with factory air conditioning, telescopic steering, leather interior and a handful of other options came from the faculty when you put a check next to "Appearance Group".

The car is a numbers-matching original with the wheels ands tires being the only non-stock items on the car. It had been restored when we bought it and has spent the majority of its life in our garages, first in Los Angeles, then Austin. A few years ago, we moved to Denver and the Corvette stayed in our garage to slumber until we arrived back about a year ago.

Upon our return, we knew that getting her back in running form would have to be done the right way. And as part of that mission to get her back on the road, it's time to perform some much-desrved R&R and a few sensible updates to our old friend, who we affectionately call "Nadine".

To that end, our coupe's OEM Powerglide 2-speed transmission has always been the least interesting feature of the car. And unfortunately a small transmission leak has progressed to the point where the transmission is going to have to come out, to frankly address the issue properly.

I've been lobbying hard to replace the stock Powerglide with a 200-4R four speed automatic and it may be time to strongly consider an overhaul on the stock 327, or even a replacement. I'll obviously, be keeping all original parts, should we ever decide to part with her.

But for now, I'm convinced that two extra gears would make her run better and deliver optimal gas mileage in the process. Other mods I'd like to complete are to clean-up the stock exhaust manifolds,

or replace them with rams horns or headers.

Realizing that a corvette is only matching #'s once, I have no intention of making any change that couldn't be easily fixed by a purist.